Brooklyn Botanic Garden Master Plan

Ecology informs a strategic “Greenprint” for future proofing and enhancing the visitor experience at one of the most celebrated botanical gardens in America.

Originally designed by the legendary Olmsted Brothers, the Brooklyn Botanical Garden (BBG) has been delighting visitors with its world-class gardens, collections, and programs. Its very first display garden focused on showcasing and conserving native plants. To this day environmental stewardship remains central to BBG’s mission. Driven by cultural shifts, climate change, and the desire to align its priorities with the needs of its land, neighboring communities, and broader world, BBG sought to develop a “Greenprint for the Future” to guide planning and action to address critical needs, advance the visitor experience, and enhance the sustainability of its operations.

As a key member of a master planning team led by Henning Larsen Architecture, Biohabitats provided ecological assessment and advisory services as well as complementary landscape planning and design in support of the master plan. Our objective was to identify, integrate, and prioritize BBG’s physical and program needs through an ecological lens. Biohabitats conducted a site-specific assessment to characterize the existing ecology, identify priorities for conservation and enhancement, and better understand BBG within its regional ecosystems and historical context. These findings were conveyed through a series of ecological condition basemaps and the analysis of the site in relation to various scales of ecosystem connectivity.

After developing metrics and goals related to providing ecological uplift, resilience, and ecosystem services, Biohabitats identified nature-based sustainability and resilience strategies, as well as opportunities for education and enhanced landscape performance. Biohabitats then conceptualized and refined all ecological components of the final Greenprint and helped prepare cost estimates for implementation.

TAGS

• Analysis+Planning
• Assessment+Monitoring
• Conservation